Fraudulent director stole my UK company

This is a discussion on Fraudulent director stole my UK company within the Business Contracts & Partnerships forum, part of the BUSINESS & FINANCE LAW category; I created a company some 5 years ago 50/50 with another. Invested money, my father invested money. I worked for ...

I created a company some 5 years ago 50/50 with another. Invested money, my father invested money. I worked for 3 years without pay depleting 70,000 pounds of savings and reinvested every penny profit. The company was my concept. We were growing and importing palm trees, and went from nothing to the biggest company of its type in north europe with over 1 million turnover, high profits and half a million in stock.
We decided the future was in growing and it was limited in holland where the main nursery was ( even though it was a UK limited company ) so i went to brazil to start a production company and left my 50% partner and director in charge. I invested all my money in plants and sent to our company in holland. I did not know he had started a new company when I left for brasil and the plants went straight into a new company greenhouse. Then I was told the company was almost bankrupt and all our huge stock of plants had died in the previous winter and was provided with a valuation of 50k and debts of 210K. This was ridiculous, the debts were around 60K including half of which was to me.
I took legal advice and was told 50K to fight him. I had nothing, and was in brasil with a wife and 2 kids to feed without money. He laughed at me and told me I was burning my own money on his expensive lawyer paid for by our company. I was told I only got my money I invested back if I agreed to sign over the company or I got nothing.
Without money and in a foreign country and without ability to fight him I was forced to sign it all over for a pittance. I also had to sign a contract saying I would remain silent.
Since then the company has prospered and he has appeared on forums advertising plants for sale that were not included in the valuation. he is not even honest about the plants he is selling and is conning people. I wrote this on the forum and he informed me that he will now sue me for defamation under the contract I signed.
I have lost everything because I did not have the money to fight him and now he wants to grind me in the dirt and sell stolen plants that he claimed had died in winter in front of my face.
Can anybody help me.

I wish to inform you that your agreement will govern your rights. In this regard if your statement on forum was true then you may inform other person that there cannot be defamation because defamation arises when any false statement is being made. As your statement was not false but correct mention of facts thus you cannot be held liable for defamation. Further foreign judgments will be enforced in Brazil after they are recognized by Superior Federal Court. You may contest judgment granted by a court in Europe against you on the ground that you were not having any opportunity to respond and due process of law was not followed.

I have not written anything that was not true but it is one word against another.
He has the money and I have nothing. I could not defend against his fraud because he had control of the money so i fear he can do as he likes because without money i already lost 50% of a company worth half a million.
I wish there was a way I could contest the contract i signed on basis of him admitting to existence of large numbers of plants he claimed died in winter, aside from the blackmail aspect. I go back to UK in march so if its possible to contect the contract and claim compensation for fraud I would do it. Probably I cant do it for same reason I lost the company, no money to fight him with.
It seems to me that the absurd costs of fighting a corporate action means that there is no justice for those that cannot pay.

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